Synagogue School
Click here to register for Synagogue School information, and here for more information in our program brochure!
Non-members are welcome to register for kindergarten and first grade (alef).
Families need to join the congregation in order to register for grades 2 (bet) and higher.
Click here for the 2022-2023 Synagogue School Calendar
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At RSNS's Synagogue School, it is our goal to support your desire to raise your children with a deep appreciation, understanding, and excitement for Jewish life in its various manifestations—religious, cultural and communal. We strive to create a climate of acceptance and comfort, where all questions are honored and each child is appreciated. We seek to create within our school a deeply caring community and hope to provide each child with the tools to lead full and productive Jewish lives.
And this sense of belonging-to one and to the Jewish people-is at the heart of Reconstructing Judaism and everything we do at Synagogue School. Our curriculum is dynamic and interactive, flowing from individual Jewish identity to an awareness of the larger Jewish community and the world. From an early age, children are taught to love and honor the language of our tradition as they learn the alef-bet. Through song, prayer and stories, they deepen their knowledge of Hebrew, connecting us to the Jewish People through time and space. In addition to basic vocabulary, children learn both the Friday night and Shabbat morning liturgies, as well as selected holiday prayers.
We teach Torah as a living document that serves not only as a record of our history but as a blueprint for our lives today. Children have the opportunity to explore prayer through multiple lenses with all our teachers throughout the year. We focus on Jewish civilization through a holiday-based curriculum using cooking, art, music, and literature to supplement the culture, ethics, history and spiritual components.
Built into the curriculum is time in mixed aged groups as a way to further strengthen the connections we make with one another. From our annual retreat to the Ashokan nature center, to making mezuzah holders in arts class, from building sukkahs to volunteering for those in need, our goal at RSNS's Synagogue School is not only Jewish literacy, but Jewish community and culture as well. We want our children to have knowledge about what it means to be Jewish, to learn the traditions, the observances and the positive feeling of what it means to be a Jew.
For more information about our synagogue school email Rebecca Hirschwerk, our Director of Congregational Education at rebeccadce@rsns.org or call the RSNS office.
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COVID PROTOCOLS: We will follow the most current CDC/Covid-19 guidelines. At this current moment, there are no longer any mask or vaccine mandates for indoor gatherings in New York State. We warmly welcome anyone who would like to wear a mask to do so.
View a Slide Show of the 2022 Ashokan trip
View a "Year in Review" Video of the 2020-2021 Synagogue School year
View a Slide Show of the 2019-2020 Synagogue School year
View a Slide Show of the 2018-2019 Synagogue School year
View a Slide Show of the 2017-2018 Synagogue School year
Like our Facebook Synagogue School page and see photos of our amazing school!
See our 2015 Purim Play on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5qdPMZ99Xw